


Remember me

by Alexgalaxies



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Echoes of Clara Oswin Oswald, Emotional Manipulation, Episode AU: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Episode: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Ko Sharmus (mentioned) - Freeform, Self-Doubt, Self-Sacrifice, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23540776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexgalaxies/pseuds/Alexgalaxies
Summary: What if Ko Sharmus hadn't been there to save the Doctor? Would she have been forced to press the button? What if someone else had come and saved the Doctor? What if that person shared a face with someone the Doctor lost a long time ago?ORClara is the one who saves the Doctor from an impossible situation
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Remember me

The Doctor’s thumb hesitated over the red button. The red button attached to a handheld bomb. A bomb that had a Cyberman stuck to it and a particle that would wipe out all organic life on Gallifrey. She didn’t want to press it, she would die, she would never see her friends again. Her home planet would be uninhabitable. This would be her last time protecting anyone for the rest of time. It hurt. And with the knowledge she had just gained, her life had been a very long one, longer than she could ever imagine, she could only hold onto the fact that she had had long enough time to exist in the universe. Hopefully, it was enough. Hopefully doing this would be enough.

The Master was eye level with the bomb. His eyes flickered back and forth between Ashad’s shrunken body and the Doctor’s wavering expression. His mouth was perked into a half-smile. He actually wanted her to do _it_. To prove him right, then he had truly broken the Doctor, that he had completely shattered her morals and made her kill just as he had. And if she didn’t then his rampage would be her fault; to save everything she would have to press the button or suffer the consequences.

The Doctor would rather have been a coward than a killer any day. She just wasn’t left a choice. She had to be a killer, she had to press that button. There was no waiting to think out a plan that would solve this problem. She wouldn’t make it out of this alive and that was that.

“Come on,” He whispered urgently. Then he became impatient “Come on!” His words came out snarly like an animal, repeating the phrase urging her to just do it. “Your whole life has been a lie, how could you not want to destroy them for lying to you? Get rid of them once and for all!” He brought up the information she had just learned. ”I’ve broken you, just do it!” He moved on to trying to emotionally manipulate the Doctor. If he could just make her angry, she just might _want_ to kill him. That’s what he wanted.

She saw through what he was doing. The Doctor saw his true motivations. She wanted nothing more than to just be able to end it all, but he won either way. How could she make sure that he didn't win? She hesitated even more. Her arm lowered, she looked away from him. If she could clear her mind of his distractions she could find another way, there had to be another way out of this.

He scoffed at her. He was in disbelief, but he also wasn’t surprised in a twisted way. The Master figured she would have weighed the consequences better, but now he thought she was too weak. He decided that the universe would suffer because of her, it would be her name attached to the fault as to why everything would now be burned. “All of the deaths will be in your name _Doctor_ ,” His eyes shifted between her hazel ones. He saw her trying to come up with something, anything at all to fix this situation. “It’s too late, you can’t win,”

There was a flash of light behind the Doctor. “Not if I have anything to do with it,” A voice came from behind her. A short brunette walked down the stairs making her way towards the Doctor.

The Master looked at the woman with an incredulous expression. “Excuse me, no gate crashers,” Then looked at the Doctor with fury. “What did I say, Doctor?” The CyberMasters lifted their arms aiming at both women.

“What are you doing here?” The Doctor asked, just as shocked at the Master. “You can’t be here,” There was urgency in her voice. No one was meant to be here, this was between the two of them. She just needed more time and everything would be okay.

Finally, on the platform next to the Doctor, she spoke. “Except I can be, and I very much am,” She smirked at them.

The Master spoke up, “And who are you?” his irritation was evident. There was always someone who ruined his plans.

“The name is C. Oswin,” She briefly looked at the Doctor noting the bomb in her hand. The two Time Lords looked at her with confusion. She saw his veins glowing with silver pulsing through him. She continued. “I was a part of a Resistance Unit tasked with sending the Cyberium back in time, and apparently we didn’t send it far enough,” She glared at the Master, with a disgusted look.

The Doctor spoke. “You shouldn’t be here,” Her eyebrows furrowed. “How are you here?” She questioned worriedly.

The Master shook his head. “What? Do you know her?” He raked his fingers through his greasy hair, before pointing at her.

“No, she doesn’t but I am here to help her,” She turned to the Doctor. “As I was saying, we send things back in time,” She shrugged. “Space travel should be no big deal, especially to a Time Lord,”

The Doctor shook her head. “No _you_ , I meant _you_ specifically, how are you here? _Why_ are you here?” She squinted her eyes.

Oswin tilted her head. “My grandfather and I work for the same task force. He was meant to be the gatekeeper, my line of work was _f_ _ixing_ the mistakes made along the way, this happened to be one of those,” She shrugged like it was no big deal.

The Master yawned loudly, showing his boredom.

Oswin continued her explanation. "We caught word about what happened to Percy Shelley. I tracked the Cyberium through time all the way here, this is me fixing our mistake discreetly,” she looked the Master up and down. 

The Master rolled his eyes making a face like an annoyed child.

“Your grandfather was Ko Sharmus? He got word back to your people, and they sent you here?”

Oswin nodded.

“BOOORING,” The Master shouted.

The Doctor scoffed. “Would you shut up a minute, your tantrum can wait a little bit longer,” The Doctor had had enough of his interruptions. He made a blah blah motion with his hand. She turned back to Oswin. “That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here,”

“But it does,” Oswin reached for the bomb. The Doctor yanked it from within her reach. Oswin saw the surprise and sadness in the Doctor’s eyes. “Doctor this isn’t your burden to carry,” She held the Doctor’s arm and pulled it to her slowly. It yielded enough for her to slip the device from her grasp. She quickly stepped back so the Doctor couldn’t stop her from going through with her decision. 

“They sent you here to die?” The Doctor clenched her fists. “There has to be another way, no more death, no more destruction, you shouldn’t have any part in this,” She grew angrier at the situation. “They shouldn’t have condemned you to this,” The Doctor knew she was adding emotional baggage onto this woman and how much she means to her, this wasn’t her Clara after all. This is some woman with a face that made her sentimental. It was too late Oswin had the bomb in her hand, ready to detonate whenever she dubbed it the right moment.

“No, Doctor. You shouldn’t have been condemned to this,” Oswin shook her head. “The universe needs you, not me,”

“You’re wrong, everyone is important,” The Doctor shook her head. She stepped towards the brunette. “I’ve been here more than long enough, you have a whole life left to live,” Her eyes were serious, pleading.

“Give me a better reason than that,”

"Please," She said with a soft voice. "There has to be another way," The Doctor bit her tongue. She couldn’t think of anything that would convince this woman. If she was anything like her Clara, then there was no stopping her.

Oswin gave an apologetic look. "There isn't, I'm sorry," She looked down at the bomb in her hand.

The Master was finally intrigued by what was happening before him. He wondered if the Doctor would really be such a coward as to let this woman do what she was too afraid of. It felt unfair to him, this was between him and the Doctor, it always had been. The people who cared for the Doctor always ruined everything. He took a step towards Oswin.

She jumped backward, holding the bomb to her chest. Her time was running out. She glanced at the Doctor gaining her full attention. “Before I go, I need to say something,” She began her final words. “When I began this kind of work, I knew I would be changing things throughout time and space and get no recognition for it and I was fine with that. I knew it wouldn’t be fun all the time, but I knew I would be making a difference,”

The Master lunged forward at the woman. With a sharp breath, she moved out of the way. He fell to the floor with a thud. He pounded a fist on the floor. He scrambled to get up. His face grew more furious, a result of his embarrassment. "This is between her and me, and you need to get out of it,"

Oswin ignored his taunting. She continued her words backing away to the steps, keeping her distance from the Master. The Doctor followed her hesitantly. “I was just a weary traveler hopefully making things just a little bit better for others. When I was younger, I had heard stories about a clever man, who traveled the universe, who saved people. He made the universe an infinitely better place. I wanted to be just like him, I wanted to travel with him, to do what he did. I dreamed of endless possibilities. So, I got as close as possible to doing what he did and stuck with it, even though it was dangerous,” she let out a soft laugh. ”Wasn’t allowed to just sightsee on the job,” She paused, her feelings finally chipping through her façade of confidence. 

The Doctor stopped at the bottom of the steps with Oswin. She held eye contact with the woman, internally debating whether or not to go for the detonator. Then a thought occurred to her. _How would she escape this if I did?_

“Now, that clever man I dreamed of is a brilliant woman. Honestly, I never quite knew where I would end up, but I knew I was destined for great things,” She swallowed. “But right now, I know I was born to save the Doctor. And Doctor? I was wrong, the universe needs me right now. I was born to help you save the universe,” She faced the Doctor fully, with an expectant expression on her face. A tear threatened to drip down her face. “So do me a favor and run,”

“I-I-” The Doctor stammered. She wanted to say that she couldn’t. She wanted to save Oswin, a part of her wanted to give this woman everything she had dreamed of. The Doctor wanted a better solution, but she couldn’t give it. This was part of the deal, Clara would always be there when she needed her to be, when there was no other option. 

Her voice became soft. “Run you clever woman, and remember me,” The Doctor hadn’t moved. A sense of urgency flooded Oswin. She shouted. “Run!”

The Doctor obeyed the command she turned away from the Cyber-Masters and the Master and started to do the thing she was best at, and ran. 

The Master bared his teeth. “Don’t you dare!” The Master barked, but it was too late. He turned to Oswin. “I’ll make you burn for this,” He stepped backward, waving a finger at her. The CyberMaster’s engaged their weapons.

Oswin faced the Master. “You won’t get that chance,” She looked him in the eyes and smiled. “And by the way, there is a win today, an Oswin,” Oswin pressed the button. She was quicker than the CyberMaster’s weapons aimed at her. She set off the explosion. The blinding white pulse from the particle surged out engulfing the planet.

The Doctor was gone. Inside a TARDIS that wasn’t hers, programming it to fly away. Oswin had saved her. Clara had saved her once again. As she flew away she silently thanked her and thanked the universe for her. She was a gift that the Doctor could never be thankful enough for.

**Author's Note:**

> i just miss Clara, okay!


End file.
